Friday, April 23, 2010

I'll be damned.

(this post is copied from my Facebook notes-from over a year ago.)

I’ll be damned.

Over the past few months, I have had many people, who call themselves Christian trash, degrade me and question if I am even really saved? I even have had people tell me that they are praying for my depraved soul and that I am going straight to hell. Why? Because I support Barack Obama. I voted for him and am now happy to see him as my president elect.

So….I figure that since I am doomed for a one way hand basket ride to the fiery place, I should explain why I am so damned. I warn you this is long, and only part one. My level of evilness requires quite a bit of explaining. ; )

I’ll be damned if I call my self pro life (which I consider myself to be) , yet take away the very programs in place that help REDUCE abortions. When a woman feels that she can ‘afford’ to have her baby, she will have it…even if that means she will need government aid. How does one expect a woman to keep a baby when there is NOTHING there to help her? How can she have a healthy pregnancy/ baby without Medicaid? How will she be able to feed/clothe/ provide shelter/healthcare for her child if social programs are cut back?

I’ll be damned if we take away education that reduces unwanted pregnancy, thus reducing abortions. I know that not everyone is going to wait till they are married. This is a simple fact of life. Proper education on birth control and how our bodies work is essential to reducing the abortion rate. I don’t want to hear “Oh I took the pill and got pregnant anyway” because 99% of the time you screwed up, not the pill. This, again, is where education is essential.

I’ll be damned if I tell a woman who has a pregnancy that is a danger to her life that she is SOL and has to DIE….even if the baby can’t be saved. Where will all of you be if, say, I get pregnant again and that pregnancy becomes a threat to my life long before viability of the baby? Do I deserve to die? What about my child who is here? Does she deserve to be motherless? Does my husband deserve the added burden of raising her without me? Where will your help be? NOWHERE, that’s where. Not only will you be nowhere to be found, you would have struck down any form of aid that my family could have benefited from all the while calling it holy and praising God. Jesus would be proud! Not.

Oh and? I’ll surely be damned if I scream about how abortion is murder, yet think an unjust war (that has killed how many of our young men and women and innocent civilians) for a known lie is good.

Did these men and women deserve to die for a LIE? http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/ If you think so, then you will have no problem clicking on each.and.every. picture and tell them that their death was worth it. Tell them that you want to keep their brothers and sisters over there to continue dying and getting maimed for life…FOR A LIE. After you do that, go to their mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and children. I support the death of your loved one for a lie….but by golly, we are protecting the lives of (unborn, once they get here they are on their own) babies! In fact, many of you voted based ONLY on abortion. How hypritical. Again, I am sure Jesus smiles down on such an unnecessary loss of life.

I almost forgot the verse I wanted to insert here. I think it fits this war perfectly.

"There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19

Make no mistake that I am pro life, very strongly so, in fact. However, I have long held that abortion is not the battle. The battle is things that stand in the way in 1) preventing unwanted pregnancies and 2) Providing all needs for those who find themselves in a situation of need. If you want to reduce abortion, then you HAVE to stand behind these things. To focus only on ending the medical procedure is ignorance, asinine, and unrealistic.

I know many will point out the adoption option. That is an idea that I pray women who find themselves in a situation where they can’t raise a baby will chose. So there is absolutely no argument there.

Just imagine, this is JUST abortion! I chose this topic first because many based their vote completely on this issue. Just wait till you hear that I am damned for supporting social equality and liberty for ALL!

6 comments:

I understand your reasonning, but I'd like to point out that among the necessary services for any woman is the possibility of abortion. Because things happen (whether a malfunctionning condom, pill, etc). And when they don't have the opportunity to have a legal abortion, they'll get an illegal one. And what's the consequences of an illegal one ? Death at worst. At best only a trip to the hospital hoping the doctors will be understanding and not treat her in a degrading way "because anyway she knew what she was doing when she opened her legs".

I think most pro-choice want to lower abortion rates and have women know better about contraception. What we don't want is going backward where abortion is illegal and the most wealthy have the access to it, but the poorest have only access to perilous underground procedures.

I understand how a woman does not want to be pregnant at all and would choose abortion instead of adoption. I would never force that on anyone, much less an adoption (which in my opinion is even more difficult). That may be the point where we depart ^^.

What about the cases where the women to take a pregnancy to term would have to be on bed rest ? or heavily medicated ? Would you still be against abortion for those ?

This post is mainly directed to those who are steadfastly against abortion. The attempt is to get them to look at the subject from a different perspective.

The battle against solely the procedure is, in my opinion, completely misplaced. Those who are anti-abortion should be willing to put their money where their mouths are so to speak. They need to be willing to 1) educate and provide the means of preventing unwanted pregnancy and 2) support programs that offer aid for those in need. This, I believe, will drop the abortion rate. (of course the reasons behind abortions are not always that 'simple')

Instead of putting themselves behind things that may reduce abortions they put themselves behind things that RAISE abortion rates. Most pro lifers are against any form of sex ed. They are against BC, and they are against social programs. It does not make any sense to me at all!

As much as I don't agree with abortion, I DO agree that it needs to remain safe and legal because as you said, women will still get them and the results won't be pretty.

Adoption is a great choice for an unwanted pregnancy, and it is one I wish people would utilize. However, like you said, it is not an easy choice either.

I agree with Robin here. However, this topic came up in a church ladies small group meeting and every woman there agreed that they would recommend BC for a teenager having premarital sex. I think the vocal minority is out of touch with the true feelings or actions of the quiet majority. Many "religious" mothers allow their teen-aged daughters to use BC to "regulate her cycle." My pet peeve is that no one seems to care about educating our teenage boys about BC. I have heard stories of teenage boys with children by multiple girls, some born in the same year. Makes me glad I had girls ;)

Luckily I had excellent sex ed in the 1970s (yes, I'm old). When we moved back to NC in 2007, I was appalled to learn that NC is back with "abstinence only" education. Making a decision at 18 to have premarital sex with my boyfriend (met at church...do you know how many of my friends lost their virginity at church camp???), I knew I needed to have my parts checked and get on birth control, mainly because I did not want to disappoint my Southern Baptist parents by getting pregnant! I went to Planned Parenthood and support them to this day. Now, this was before AIDS and the world today is a much scarier place. Perhaps it's my age that makes my pro-choice.

On a family note: my neices and nephews grew up in a time of "abortion is bad," and would never have one. While I commend that, one neice has had three children, all removed from her and adopted out because she is a crack addict. She had her first at 17. When I visited them in the 1980s, she was 13 and sexually active. (She told me, but not her parents.) I begged her stepsister to drive her to Reno, NV, and get her on birth control (90 miles away--no services available in Susanville, CA, without parental agreement. I did not tell my brother. This child had been molested by her birth father (not my brother) at age 2 (he is in prison), but no mental health had ever been provided; I found out years later that her step-grandfather had also begun molesting her when she was 9; as well as her brother-in-law. We do not know where she is now. The last time she showed up at my brother's house, he told her to leave. I tried for 6 months to get her in treatment and worked with the CA mental health system, the police, local homeless shelter, her social worker, and SSI. None of them knew what the others were doing, but they ALL knew my neice! This has taken a different turn, Robin, but the way Seattle has been handling their chronic homeless is to get them in housing first and then get them treatment. The old way of "you have to be clean and sober to sleep here tonight" is obviously not working.

Note: I vote for people based on what I think they will do for my local, statewide, or national government on myriad issues. I do have family that vote solely based on the gay rights or abortion issue; many times voting for a candidate that will end up creating laws that hurt my family/friends in other aspects of their lives. The best thing anyone can do is read, read, read and turn off the TV. I suggest The Nation Magazine, US News and World Report, The Economist, and your local papers.

I have to be honest and say that I agree. That would get me drawn and quartered if I said it in "mixed company", but many, many Christian women, as myself, do not see Roe v. Wade as the problem. It is a frequent conversation among many Christian women I know, but they do not speak up because their very salvation will be questioned and they will be personally pilloried.

I am personally pro-life, which simply means that I would not have an abortion (well, I am past childbearing age, but that was my position when I was a younger woman, as well). However, the hard fact is that if abortion is made illegal, some women will suffer and die, and moreover, they will still get abortions, just as they always have.

I believe we should work together with those of all political stripes to provide comprehensive reproductive education and complete support for women who carry their babies to term and decide to raise them, or decide to give them in adoption. As Christians, we are often, sometimes rightly, are accused of only really caring about the unborn, not the born or the mothers who bore them. We must do more to reduce untimely, unwanted pregnancies, and support women who do find themselves in that position.

As much as we may like, we cannot truly legislate this issue. Reducing abortions is something that nearly everyone - democrat, independent, and republican - can agree upon. Let's start working together based upon that common ground, and I'll bet we would be amazed at what could be accomplished. In all the years of both sides throwing money at their candidates, and vitriol at each other, we still have a situation in this country where 1 in 3 American women have had abortions by the time they are 45 years old.

We cannot let the vocal minority continue to let this issue divide us and our common goals.

I appreciate what you said in this post. I have often wondered at the state of things when support for a differing political viewpoint gets you castigated in church. That does not seem right. There are many issues where the Republican party is at odds with Scripture or even where Scripture is silent. Yet, somehow we are supposed to blindly follow the one true Christian party.Scripture is silent or ambiguous on a host of modern issues such as global climate change, tax policy, gun control, socialized medicine, nuclear proliferation etc etc etc.It is the height of arrogance to claim to know exactly what God thinks about the minutest details of these issues, much less to question the salvation of someone who sees things differently.I am left of center on many, many major issues. Many Christians assume that I believe the way I do politically either out of ignorance of the Bible or out of indifference to its teachings. However, I believe the way I do because I believe that is what the Bible teaches.